The Organization of American States (OAS) called for elections in Haiti as soon as possible and opened the way for an investigation into the ousting of Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Over the objections of the US and Haiti's new government, the OAS General Assembly approved a resolution on Tuesday night noting Aristide's removal was unconstitutional and allowing an assessment of what occurred.
Aristide accuses the US of forcing him from office -- a charge Washington denies. A US-supplied jet flew Aristide to the Central African Republic on Feb. 29 as rebels advanced on the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, and he is now in asylum in South Africa after spending several weeks in Jamaica.
The ministers agreed to channel their efforts on Haiti through the OAS Permanent Council in Washington. They committed their nations to undertaking "all the diplomatic initiatives necessary" to promote democracy in Haiti.
In a resolution, the foreign ministers urged "the transitional government in Haiti to create conditions conducive to the holding of free, fair and democratic elections in Haiti as soon as possible."
After Aristide's removal, multinational forces entered the country to re-establish order under the authority of the UN Security Council.
Foreign ministers from around the Americas also declared war on the deeply ingrained corruption in the region at the end of a two-day meeting in Quito.
corruption
US Secretary of State Colin Powell urged nations to "advance democratic governance and economic growth in this region" by fighting corruption.
A document signed by 34 foreign ministers or heads of delegations states, "corruption has a serious impact on public and private institutions, weakens economic growth and impinges upon the needs and fundamental interests of a country's most vulnerable social groups."
The foreign ministers pledged they would keep corrupt officials from entering their countries and agreed to cooperate in recovering stolen funds.
But the general assembly rejected a Peruvian proposal calling for countries to extradite officials accused of corruption. The Peruvian government had hoped the measure would allow it to extradite former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori from Japan.
Mexico, which has a long history of providing refugee to officials who say they are fleeing political persecution, opposed Peru's proposal.
The US was also unsuccessful in persuading other nations to agree to impose sanctions on corrupt governments.
"Governments are not corrupt," Peruvian Foreign Minister Manuel Rodriguez said during a break in the debate. "Members of a given government are corrupt."
‘HYANGDO’: A South Korean lawmaker said there was no credible evidence to support rumors that Kim Jong-un has a son with a disability or who is studying abroad South Korea’s spy agency yesterday said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s daughter, Kim Ju-ae, who last week accompanied him on a high-profile visit to Beijing, is understood to be his recognized successor. The teenager drew global attention when she made her first official overseas trip with her father, as he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Analysts have long seen her as Kim’s likely successor, although some have suggested she has an older brother who is being secretly groomed as the next leader. The South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS) “assesses that she [Kim Ju-ae]
In the week before his fatal shooting, right-wing US political activist Charlie Kirk cheered the boom of conservative young men in South Korea and warned about a “globalist menace” in Tokyo on his first speaking tour of Asia. Kirk, 31, who helped amplify US President Donald Trump’s agenda to young voters with often inflammatory rhetoric focused on issues such as gender and immigration, was shot in the neck on Wednesday at a speaking event at a Utah university. In Seoul on Friday last week, he spoke about how he “brought Trump to victory,” while addressing Build Up Korea 2025, a conservative conference
DEADLOCK: Putin has vowed to continue fighting unless Ukraine cedes more land, while talks have been paused with no immediate results expected, the Kremlin said Russia on Friday said that peace talks with Kyiv were on “pause” as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin still wanted to capture the whole of Ukraine. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said that he was running out of patience with Putin, and the NATO alliance said it would bolster its eastern front after Russian drones were shot down in Polish airspace this week. The latest blow to faltering diplomacy came as Russia’s army staged major military drills with its key ally Belarus. Despite Trump forcing the warring sides to hold direct talks and hosting Putin in Alaska, there
North Korea has executed people for watching or distributing foreign television shows, including popular South Korean dramas, as part of an intensifying crackdown on personal freedoms, a UN human rights report said on Friday. Surveillance has grown more pervasive since 2014 with the help of new technologies, while punishments have become harsher — including the introduction of the death penalty for offences such as sharing foreign TV dramas, the report said. The curbs make North Korea the most restrictive country in the world, said the 14-page UN report, which was based on interviews with more than 300 witnesses and victims who had
RSS